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YANKEELAND IN HER TROUBLE. 



AN ENGLISHMAN'S CORRESPONDENCE 

DURING THE WAR. -^vS 



Tlicfollowiiii;- letters were addre.ssed by Air. Siddons, in October, 
1864, to Mr. Jobii Bright's newspaper, the Star. They incontestii])lv 
prove that an Englishman could heartily 83'mpathise with " A^aukee- 
land " in her troable, as a republican to the back-bone. Air. Sid- 
dons had been a resident of the United States for four years and 
a half when the letters were written. Soon afterwards he was in 
England procuring skilled laborers for the Union foundries, factories 
and ship yards, and to that end wrote and published a "History of the 
United States," the ''•'Emigrant's Friend," and other works: 

To tJie Editor of the Star: 

Sir: It is high time that some Englishman who understands the 
Yankee character, and has neither been specially commissioned to 
abuse the Republicans nor butter tiie Southerners in a Democratic 
garb, should enter upon the task of setting his countrymen right re- 
garding the aspects of the war, and the real nature of the noblepeople 
who are struggling to preserve their cherished Union. I could wish, 
as the honorable gentleman says when a toast has been intrusted to 
him, that the office had devolved upon an abler hand than myself, 
but the truth is there are no Englishmen in America (except Goldwin 
Smith, who has judged American institutions aright,) from Avhom an 
intelligible sketch of the people and the country can be derived. 
Excepting the merchants and then- clerks, who from prudential — sav, 
commercial and interested — motives as sedulously eschew politics as 
they Avould avoid the purchase of any other uVmiarketable goods, 
there is hardly an Englishman in Yankeeland who can be called an 
educated gentleman. Of course, I do not include the aliens who left 
their country for their country's good, and who swarm in the streets 
(•f New A^ork, tryii.g, like so many Jean Valjeans, to conceal their 
names and make their peace with God. The education of many of 
tliese poor felhnvs has been, perhaps, too good for their principles, 
and their struggles for bread amidst a smart people who can beat them 
in their own line, are too absorbing to give tliem time or opportunity 
to study character or meddle with politics. Aloreover, they have no 
better means of getting at tlie hearts of the brave A^ankees than any 
of the " correspondents " who hve at hotels, liquor with all manner 



■t 

of rouijcli people who call themselves politicians, (they either pull wires 
or swarm the lohhies of Congress,) and are avoided and detested l>y 
the hetter classes, because, mistaking the surface for the depth, they 
devote their energies to a slap-dash abuse of everything to which they 
are unaccustomed, and the rational causes of which they do not attempt 
to penetrate, I cannot give you a better notion of the iniprcssioiis 
which Americans generally have received of Englishmen than by tell- 
ing you that they iirmly believe it is a part of our religion to aspirate 
our hs, and that not one of us knows anything of tlie history or even 
of the geography of the United States. And this impression, as de- 
duced from the Cockneys and Lancashire people who come out here, 
.strengthened by the malevolence of Irish misrepresentation, is about 
correct. Hence my reason for breaking the ice. I may add — and 
then away for good with egotism — that I have passed several years 
in tlie Northern and Western States, neither engaged in commerce 
nor fighting for bread, enjoying the best society, though seeing much 
of the worst, and am now residing in one of the most charming and 
pictures(|Uo townis in brave old Massachusetts. A sense of justice 
alone, and the conviction that, in the columns of the Star, I should 
obtain an impartial hearing, induce me to depart from a previously 
settled determination to sit quietly doAvn and see this monstrou; 
game of chess played out. 

The present mail will bring you some account of Yankee reverses 
and checks. A j)7'opos I use the word " Yankee" — and shall alway; 
use it — in its l)roadest and least oiiensive sense. It is almost neediest 
to tell you that the term originated in the Indian mispronunciatioi 
of the word " English," and was apphed by them to the first settlers. 
There is nothing more disgraceful in it than the word " Feringee,' 
which my old friends, the Hindoos, apply indiscriminately to th 
" lord saheb" who rules the roost, and the " common European,' 
whom the Qidhies used to regard as "interlopers." Besides, th^ 
Southerners have exalted the title " Yankee" by employing it to de- 
scribe the opposite of themselves. It is the type of everything that i.: 
brave, earnest, thoughtful, liberal, and kind. If that particular Con- 
necticut peddler who devised the wooden nutmegs had not brought 
disgrace upon the Yankee trader, no one would ever have been 
ashamed of the term. 

Well, the Yankees have had some slight reverses, and of course 
they will influence the price of gold here, and send up Confederate 
bonds in your disordered market. But these reverses will neither 
affect Mr. Lincoln's prospects in New England, nor chill the hearts of 
the Republicans. On the contrary^ every little check seems to ani- 
mate the [)cople to greater exertions and to a more lil)eral opening of 
their purse-strings. I see a great deal in the English papers about 
the exhaustive character of this war — the impoverishment of the 
country — the impossibility of getting recruits, &c. Undoubtedly war 
has its mischievous influences upon society here as it had in England 
when Wellington was fighting our battles in the Peninsula. I am old 
enough to remember how stocks w-ent up and dow^n when good or 



bad news reached England, llow the people stormed and raved after 
the victory at Vimeiro had been tarnished b}- the Ciiitra Convention ! 
How the Common Council putted with a determination to have 
" that fellow " removed after the sanguinary fight at Talavera ! 
IIow moody and despairing all Enghxud became when we heard of 
the retreat' from Burgos! How the Opposition trembled, or attected 
to tremble, as the national debt increased its terrible proportions ! 
And yet we survived the war of twenty years, and came out of it a 
greater, a better, and a more prosperous people. The lesson has not 
been lost upon the Yankees, As we fought and hoped against hope, 
''^so will they fight and fight with something more than hope to sustain 
them in their good cause. 

You hear agreat deal in England about the trouble of getting 

.recruits, and ofthe tricks resorted to by kidnappers to swell the ranks 

!of the Federals. Of course, if Irishmen will get drunk upon vile 

whiskey and stupifyitig infusions, they must not be surprised if they 

wake up and find themselves either in a barrack-yard or a station-house. 

Hodge, ere now, has been tricked by Sergeant Kite into the British 

service in a similar manner. But the authorities sanction no such un- 

; due means of obtaining soldiers, and if it were only hinted to them 

^that in the British army men are allowed four days between the hour 

of enlistment and that of attestation to think about the mitter they 

.would so modify the laws as to check the chicanery which has had so 

^serious an effect on immigration. The real difficulty in obtaining 

^recruits consists in the superior attractions of commercial gain over 

, the blandishments of the romance attaching to patriotism. Thus it 

is that you will see columns of the New York Herald and papers of 

a similar stamp swarming with temptations to men to go as the sub- 

.stitutes of gentlemen who have been drafted. You will judge 

-of the enormous profits of trade by the fact of as much as $800 

being given to a man who will join the army as the representative of 

tome enterprising manufacturer. The Government connives at this 
or two reasons — in the first place it encourages enlistment without 
putting the public to extra expense ; and, in the second place, it keeps 
the manufacturer at his mills or his forge and furnace, and enables 
him to contribute largely to sanitarj' funds, fairs, and commissions. 
The factories are of as much importance in the successful prosecution 
of the war as soldiers are. Grant, Sherman, Farragut, and Gilmore 
must have guns and shot and shell, locomotives, monitors, ambulances 
and a vast amount of material besides. Where is it all to be got if 
every able-bodied man is pressed into the ranks ? When Mr. Lincoln 
calls for '• five hundred thousand more " it is not because he expects 
to get them, but because he wishes his countrymen to see that he is 
determined to push the war to a successful issue. He keeps alive the 
public spirit by this assurance, that there is still much for them to do. 
The Yankee is a nervous, excitable sort of being ; he gets tired 
of the same e-ame, becomes sluggish and inert if not stimulated now 
and then by a glaring exhibition ot what is yet demanded of his 
patriotism. When the worst comes to the worst — when the rich and 



prosperous are not permitted to send their representatives into the 
Held, you will see such a gathering as has not been approached since 
the first call to arms. Take, as an example of what the American 
will do when the danger is really close to hid doors, the conduct of 
the Philadelphians when Stuart made his raids into Maryland. At 
the call of Governor Curtin 7,000 of the best blood in Pennsylvania 
flew to arms in twenty-four hours prepared to repel the invasion. 
And if I\^nns_ylvajiia, with some Southern proclivities in her midst, 
will do this, what might not be ex[)ected of the grand Xew Englanders, 
the foremost to rebuke the outrage committed on the flag ? If Grant 
by his perseverance, not by his successes, establishes that there is a 
large infusion of John Bullism in his character, he will never need 
followers. At one time all Massachusetts would have sworn by 
McClellan and fought under him a' Voutrance. But his shilly-shally- 
ism, with its attendant resultb, cast serious doubts on his sincerity as 
well as his capacity, and now there is not one man in all the Ea»t 
who honestly cries " God bless him ! " But Mr. Lincoln must be 
steady in his confidence in Grant, and I think he will. There has 
been too much withdrawing of generals after reverses. Hooker, 
Butler, Hunter, Burn side, and Banks are cases in point. They have 
all been unfortunate at some time or other. But that is no reason 
why the President of the Kepublic should have treated them as Napo- 
leon did his marshals, petthig them one day, and suspending them 
the next. If they were not Massenas, enfant gates de la victoire, 
neither were they Marmonts, toujours malhereux. Grant has kept his 
word, and has fought for Richmond " all through the summer." He 
knows the way to the hearts of his countrymen. Once acquire the 
confidence of the Americans by steadiness and integrity of purpose 
and they never desert you ; once deceive their hopes, either by an 
escapade or mischance, and they never forgive you or restore you to 
their regard. This rule holds good in all their commercial transac- 
tions, and may be accepted as their rule in politics and war. 

I see that Millard Fillmore, the ex-President, who has been living 
for some years past at Butt'alo, and practising the law (for to this 
necessity the paltry salary of a President reduces the magistrate who 
lays down the sceptre,) has written to say that he does not make 
speeches or write letters, but he intends to cast his vote for McClellan. 
()f course Mr. Fillmore is true to his old superstitions, and the North 
could not have a stronger proof tliat McClellan goes for slavery and 
the Union than this same vote. The nomination of the Chicago 
convention will no more operate upon the strong minds and righteous 
purposes of the New Englanders than the votes of the city of New 
York did upon the nomination of Mr. Lincoln. The Democrats 
are always in the maj jrity in the large cities, for this simple reason: 
the Irish abound in them, and their votes are generally to be had 
against any one who is supposed to be favorable to the ultimate 
ai)o!ition of negro slavery. This has always appeared to me an 
anomaly. If lal)or has been rendered disgraceful (in Yankee eyes) 
by its association Avith slavery, the Irishman who desires to see his 



profession tixtiltcd should go in for a measure which al)oUshes the 
disgraceful taint. But no ; he believes that, once free, the negro 
Avould come to the North and compete with him in the labor market, 
and this dehision the Democrats sedulously labor to perpetuate. 
Now, if the abolition of slavery were to operate upon the labor 
market at all, it would be by leading the free negroes to go South, 
and seek employment in a climate more congenial to their nature. 
However, while the delusion lasts, and the poor elector believes that 
if he helps his party into power he may become a pohceman at least 

if not, the custodian of a lighthouse — we may be sure that there 

will be large Democratic majorities in big towns. But it is far other- 
wise in the farming districts and among the great manufactories. 
They love the Union "most heartily. They arc profound believers in 
its ultimate reconstruction, and they know that, questions of large 
capacity set apart, (and I don't think Mr. Lincoln merely a fool and 
jester,) the present President is an honest and a brave man, true to 
his pledges, and as disinterested (pecuniarily) as any human being can 
possibly be. 

I have said enough for the present. It is my intention to continue 
to write until T learn that my communications are unnecessary or ^ 
unacceptable. MUZAFIR. A 

Cambridge, Massachusetts, October- 4. 

To the Editor of the Star : 

Sir: Wheii Sidney Smith wrote his famous lines on taxation, and 
predicted the servile war which was to place America upon a 
level with England in respect to tinancial burdens, he could never 
have anticipated the philosophic calmness and patriotic endurance 
which mark the acceptance of the present heavy infliction. The 
descendants of the men who refused to drink taxed tea and allow of 
a stamp act in the last century, are foremost to practically acknowl- 
edge the imposts which the Government has found it necessary to 
establish for the purposes of the war. In England we are irritated at 
the domicihary visits of the gentlemen who, in the name of the 
(^ueen, present little strips of printed paper, containing at once a 
demand, an intimation, and a threat. Sewer rates, church rates, 
water rates, income tax. dog tax, property tax, are so many unavoid- 
able abominations which we pay with a reluctant grunt and a growl 
at the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Here, on the contrary, the tax- 
gatherer is never 'troubled to call for the dues of the RepubUc. Men 
cheerfully walk down to the co\iiptroller's office and pay whatever 
sum they may be assessed in without a murmur. And this lets us a 
little into the secret of the wealth of the Bostonians. I have been 
surprised, on examining the tax book, to find so many persons in pos- 
session of "real estate," or, as we should say, fixed property. A 
considerable number admit that they are worth £15,000. ^80,000, 
4:45,000, and upwards. Mr. Hemmenway, the richest man in Boston, 
judging from the tax book, pays on nearly half a miUion sterl- 
ing. Aod yet all this forms but a fractional part of the substantial 



^iJ^^-^^ X^^-*-=*^^^^ -^<-^c^^ 



wealth of the capital of the old Bay State. The duties oii 
her imports last year came to seven millions of dollars, and there are 
countless mill ions represented hy the immense public works, buildings, 
iron manufactories, and ship yards, stored goods, and the contents of 
the retail shops. Well, not only are taxes cheerfully paid, but large 
voluntary provision is made for the sick and wounded soldiers, the 
widows and the orphans, the equipment of' new regiments, and the 
reception of the old ones who have returned from service. And the 
best of it is that no one yet seems to feel the burthen. My letters 
from England are full of pity for the poor Americans, and I am con- 
doled with for living amidst so much desolation. Desolation, quotha! 
I wish my countrymen could just take a peep at the streets of lioston, 
New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and fifty other towns I could 
name. They would never sup[)ose that a costly war was extant. 
Thousands of well and fashionably-dressed people swarm the streets. 
The largest shops (stores) are crowded with customers. Silks, satins, 
velvets, and furs, at fabulous prices, find innumerable purchasers. 
There was a movement several months ago among some of the 
patriotic women to encourage the use of common materials and home- 
made garments, but it did not jump with the inclinations of the 
vounger branches of society, the newly married, and the hopeful. 
Great, therefore, was the rejoicing when the Jioston Commercial 
Bulletin and the New York Herald pointed out that the interests of 
the country would be better served by the consumption of imported 
articles which bore heavy duties than by a miserable economy which 
would discourage the trade in dry goods and minimise tlie receipts at 
the Custom House. 

But not alone in the ready acceptance of taxation does patriotism 
here find development. Citizens submit uncomplainingly to every- 
thing done by the Administration under the well-grounded plea of 
expediency-. The suspension of the Habeas Corpus, as regards military 
matters, svmimary imprisonment, passports, the suppression of news- 
papers, and other features of martial law where that prevails, have 
become features of the model RcpubliCj and there are neither popular 
gatherings, nor newspaper protests to indicate public dissatisfaction. 
And why ? Because the people are educated to obey the suggestions 
of reason. They have been educated to think as well as to work; and 
wealth and good government have accrued as a matter of course. 
I look upon this state as one of the best samples extant of self-rule. 
Having no other mines to work, said Horace Mann, Massachussetts 
has mhied into the human intellect, and from its limitless resources 
slie has won more sustaining and enduring prosperity and happiness 
than if it had been founded on a stratification of silver and gold, 
reaching deeper down than geology has yet penetrated. 

The negro regiments in the field are sul)jects of some solicitude to 
the New Englanders just now, for it was here the first regiment was 
raised. Knowing something of our West lu^ia corps, I never had 
any doubt, from the first, that the darkies W()uld make good soldiers. 
Their docility and courage, apart from the interest which they naturally 



felt in a war wliicb they iiniily l)elieve must ultimately result in the 
abolition of slavery, were guarantees of their obedience in garrison, and 
their effectiveness in the field. But I think that Grant would have 
acted wisely if he had not sent tlieni to the front soon after their 
organization . The iSoutherner affects to love the slave, and, measnring 
his affections by the servility of the race, abhors a free negro. When 
the chance occurs for jin onslaught on these poor fellows it is seized 
with alacrity, and if they run away it is because they fancy they are 
too weak for their opponents, and, if made prisoners, will be treated 
with extra barbarity. It would, probably, have been better to have 
kept them in reserve until they had become familiar with the smell 
of gunpowder, and had learnt that tlieir true safety consists in maintain- 
ing a determined front. One of their officers tells me that they 
make very sharp pickets, and good trench gaurds, but are not yet aufait 
at a charge. Guarding trenches is a responsilde duty with Grant's 
army just now. The Confederates know that he is at the terrible 
work of sap[)ing and mining, than which no system of warfare is 
more efficacious for the destruction of an enemy's works. The effect 
of sapping the works of the foe is to pulverize them, and make the assault 
t)f the forlorn hope a very troublesome matter. Amine, on the other 
hand, scatters a parapet in fragments and lumps which assist the 
assailants in making their way into a breach 

Lord Combermere tried this with capital effect at 13hurtpore in 
1826. I recollect the nake remark of the Rajah Durjan Saal — "I 
don't like this lord's way of making war. He burrows hke a rabbit 
in the earth. Why don't he fight open Hke Lord Lake?" And if 
the old cavalry soldier /j a/ fought like Lake, he would have been 
baffled as Lake was. With all our improvements in missiles and 
projectiles there are certain laws in civilized war which admit of 
no exceptions. Forts must be invested and mined. It will be a 
hard matter to invest Richmond ; but, with patience, the whole of 
the advance works may be blown to atoms We could not invest 
Sebastopol — hence the longe siege ; but ixfeu iVeTifer nearly as effec- 
tive as a mine carried the Malakhoff. Soldiers must not operate 
just as their enemies like, but according to the dictates of their own 
good sense. Napoleon's promptitude was very distasteful to the 
Austrians and tliC old Royalist officers who adhered to the Bour- 
bons. "Ce monsieur-la, il ne comprend pas la guerre," says the old 
Marquis in the play. '*I1 acheve la victoire en trois mois. Bah ! 
parlez-moi de la Guerre de Sept Ans — la Guerre de Trente Ans." 

The poets of America are about to signalize the anniyersary of 
William f>ryant's seventieth birthday by a festival at the Century 
C/lub — the club par exc< Hence of the artists, lawyers, and men of let- 
ters. This club has two weekly reunions, Wednesdays and Satur- 
days. On other occasions it is seldom resorted to. On Saturdays 
all the beaux esprit'^ muster in great force. George Bancroft, the 
historian, is now the president. Verplanck, one of the accomiilished 
editors of Shakspeare, introduced pi)litics of the Democratic hue, 
and was very properly expelled. At the club, cigars, oyster soup, 



8 

and mild beverages make up the refection ol" tliose wlio choose to 
take suppers, and the talk is of literature and the arts. On these 
occasions some new picture is exhibited l)y Hayes, Louis Lang, 
JIunt, Gignonx, Leutze, or some other artist, and in the dining-room 
above Richard Willis and an occasional musical confrere discourse 
sweet sounds. I know of nothing more elegant and cheerful than 
these symposia. Brvant, wearing a long white beard, is generally 
present, and his society is truly enjoyable. 

William Cullen Bryant has firm faith in the reconstruction of the 
Union. Here are some verses from his grandest poem on the sub- 
ject, ''Not Yet !" 

O country, marvel of the earth I 

O realm, to sudden greatness grown I 

The age that gloried in thy birth 

Shall it behold thy overthrow ? 

Shall traitors lay that greatness low ! 

No ; laud of hope and blessing. No ! 

Not yet the liour is nigli when they 

Who deep in Eld's dim twilight sit. 

Earth's ancient kings shall rise and say, 

"Proud country, welcome to the pit ! 

So soon art thou, like us, brought low V" 

No, sullen group of shadows, no I 

For now, behold the arm that gave. 

The victory in our fathers' day. 

Strong as of old to guard and save — 

That mighty arm which none can stay — 

On clouds above and fields below. 

Writes, in men's sight, the answer, No! 
The Century Club was very successful with its Shakesperean cele- 
bration ; but as this is a sore subject for England, I will not awaken 
jealousies by saying how the club managed the matter. Our great 
poet is much read here, and much interest is felt in R. Grant White's 
forthcoming edition. If it is better than Mr. Hudson's it will l)e an 
important addition to our literature. Yours truly, 

MUZAFIR. 
Cambridge, Massachusetts, Oct. 8. 



To the Editor of tlie Star: 

Sir: As we approach the day fixed foi" the election of a new Pres- 
ident, party fury augments its force, and every trivial event which 
tells upon one side or the other acquires a significance and pro[)oi'tions 
wdiich would not have been assigned to it at a more traiupiil period. 
The Democrats employ every imagiMal)le engine to procure the elec- 
tion of General McClellan, notwithstanding his avowed determination 
to resist the Confederate endeavors to dislocate the LTnion, and there 
is, of course, nothing to prevent their resorting to the foulest expe- 
dients to idacken their o))ponents and damage the cause of the Pres- 
ident tic facto. Mr. Liticohijon the other hand, can do nothing. The 
dignity of his position as chief magistrate of the repultlic demands 
that he should remain quiescent. The proverbial advantage of pos- 
session is of little avail in his case, for the law is inexorable in fixing 
a limit to the duration of his present term of oltice, and it would be 



both unconstitutional and indelicate were he to employ the patronage 
at his command to increase his chances of re-election. But there is 
no fear of his doing anything unworthy of himself or his office. If a 
people whom he has served with unexampled constancy in tlie hour 
of their greatest tribulation are so forgetful of what is due to tlieir 
own character and the sohd interests of their mighty re[>ui)Hc as to 
ignore the claims he has established to their gratitude, he at least will 
be able to retire with a clear conscience and an enviable reputation. 
If he fails to be retained in office, it will be because those wdio swear 
by his principles, enjoy his confidence, or hold office in virtue of their 
repul)licanism, are numerically inferior to the masses who expect to 
reap profit by a change of any kind, and are swayed by a multitude 
of interested motives, patriotism aside. The war has no doubt en- 
riched many men, but it has also impoverished numerous trades, 
sickened those who have lost relatives, and disturbed the whole frame- 
work of society. These considerations, added to the influences of 
Democratic policy and Southern gold (for such a thing is current in 
the Northern States.) necessarily swell McClellan's adherents. But 
there is no doubt of the result among the New Englanders, in spite 
of a frenzied repetition of the out-of-door demonstrations which dis- 
tinguished the contest of 1860. 

One of the last great efforts of the Democrats to damage Mr. Lin- 
coln was to identify the appointment of Governor Paine, of West 
Kentucky, with the Republican policy. I have seen a barefaced 
statement in a provincial paper of the Democratic complexion, that 
he was only removed from office to stave off public indignation ! 
The real truth is, that as soon as the authorities heard of his atrocious 
proceedings they took measures to subject his conduct to military 
investigation, but the fellow had decamped. Mr. Lincoln is the last 
man in the world to countenance anything in the shape of cruelty. 
A few months ago he caused a man, named (I think) Taylor, to be 
tried by court-martial for maltreating a poor negro woman until she 
died. The court, composed of Tennesseans, hardened, if not bruti- 
fied, by the habitual contemplation of slavery, found the monster 
guilty, but o^ly sentenced him to five years' imprisonment. Mr. 
Lincoln's '^ remarks " on the court-martial's finding and sentence 
were worthy of his humanity. He denounced the members in terms 
of the strongest indignation, and as the law gave him no power to 
alter the decree, and he was indisposed to annul a decision which 
would have set Taylor at liberty, he took care that the imprisonment 
should be carried out where he knew it would be severely felt, and 
whence the prisoner could neithei- escape nor enjoy indulgences 
through the instrumentality of his friends or his own wealth, Taylor 
was removed from Tennessee and sent to Albany. 

With all the care in the world, it is impossible for governments to 
avoid placing bad men in responsible positions, and especially in civil 
war it is difficult to restrain excesses. Officers are selected with ref- 
erence, may be, to their understood capacity or their military stand- 
ing, and at the moment, offer in their private character a guarantee 



10 

that they will faitlifnlly porfonii tlie <lnty intrusted to them. But 
the possession of independent authority, or an a[)prehenriion tluit 
mdess great severity is practiced some fatal consequences may ensue, 
develops the feeliler pro})erties of a man's nature, and leads liiin 
sometimes to the connnission of cruelties or petty annoyances which 
at other times he would have contemplated with horror. Upon this 
hypothesis we may hase a variety of acts ascrihed to Napoleon, Su- 
warnnv, Augereau, Soult, Sir Hudson Lowe, General Butler, and the 
soldiers of Oliver Cromwell. The wonder is that in this terrible 
American contest there have heeu so few departures from the hunnin- 
ities and amenities of civilized warfare. I think a solution may be 
found in the religious education of the Yankees. Whatever may be 
said by the correspondent of one of your contemporaries, whose strict 
sense of justice is too often overwhelmed ]»y the temptation to in- 
dulge in a dysenteric vocabulary (and who, bye the bye, has, I per- 
ceive l>y a late arrival from Liverpool, been severely castigated in 
the Post of that city,) the Americans are a God-fearing people. Let 
any man place himself upon an eminence near one of the great towns, 
and he will inevitably come to the conclusion that amid all the din 
and confusion of commerce, the corruption of politics, and the licen- 
tiousness incidental to all cities, the Great Jehovah is fervently wor- 
shippech 

Li every direction heaven-pointing s[»ires announce the presence 
of a devotional spirit. In New York there are upwards of two 
hundred and fifty churches, chapela, synagogues, and meeting-houses. 
A corresponding number in Boston, Brooklyn, Baltimore, and Chi- 
cago. Fewer steeples, perliaps, are seen in Philadelphia, because the 
old Greek architecture is in favor of the external decoration of places 
of worship, and the Society of Friends are more numerous there than 
elsewhere. It is true that the number of churches, etc., in the States 
does not accommodate in the gross more than one-fourth of the popu- 
lation, but when it is considered tliat a very large proportion of the 
population consists of infants or children too young to understand the 
purposes of public worship ; of persons confined at home by sickness, 
of very old people, of young men absent temporarily with the army 
or navy ; of Germans who look upon the Sabbath as peculiarly con- 
secrated to bucolic enjoyments ; of free-thinkers ; of laborers who 
devote the whole of Sunday to repose at home or in the pul)lic walks ; 
of thousands who pass the day out of the cities in surrounding villages, 
whose churches they probably attend, the accommodation will be found 
suificient. 

The community of the States is cut up into an indefinite diversity 
of religious sects, and there are not a few persons who implicitly 
surrender themselves to the mummeries of that singular compound of 
fraud, cunning, credulity, and superstition distinguished as Spiritual- 
ism. These last have their newspaper as well as the rest, and a very 
droll concern it is. The Baniur of Light would rather astonish the 
common sense of my countrymen, and some of the services or per- 
formances on Sundays^ in the name of Spiritualism, would [)ut the 



11 

magistracy on the alert. But in this country all are tree to indulge 
their several notions as to the most certain road to eternal beatitude. 
Nowhere is there less of the odium theologicum. The ministers of all 
persuasions cordially eo-operate when any good public work is lo be 
done. I may say of l^iem generally that tliey are worthy of their 
trust. They do not lack earnestness, nor piety, nor that regard for 
their Hocks which linds a healthy manifestation in personal connnu- 
nication with their congregations. In all churches the people mani- 
fest a decent reverence ; the pastors enjoy a large amount of popular 
respect ; the churchwardens and deacons have no reason to com[)lain 
of any difficulty in collecting platefuls of contributions ; the Sunday 
schools are well attended ; innumerable sewing societies " stitch, 
stitch " for the service of the charities attached to many of the 
churches ; the ministers are tolerably well paid by the voluntary 
contributions of the people who elect them to the churches ; grace 
before meat is the rule of hundreds of thousands of families ; the 
funeral obsequies of departed friends are attended by large cor(eg?s 
of mourners ; and family prayer, morning and evening, sanctifies 
many a household. Are not these evidences of a religious spirit per- 
vading the land? But go farther, go from the forms of piety to the 
affairs of common life, and say if the integrity which distinguishes 
the commercial operations of the Yankee, the charity which rescues 
thousands from starvation and the perils of crime, the harmony which 
reigns in the ordinary intercourse of society, and the wonderful pros- 
perity which has blessed tlie land, may not be in some measure refer- 
able to the guiding intiuences of religion ? I do not care to pursue 
the subject and establish invidious comparisons, but I should but poorly 
vindicate the English love of justice and fair play if I allowed such 
reckless asseverations to go forth as have disfigured some of the Lon- 
don papers, without a protest against their acceptance as unqualified 
truths. 

One of the greatest troul)les at present assailing the Republic is the 
falling off in the immigration of skilled laborers. There is no lack 
of hands to do such work in the mills and factories as may not call for 
any particular mechanical training. Ireland, Germany and Canada 
supply a sufficienc}" of thews and smews. But there is a serious dim- 
inution in the supply of artificers, who are of so much use in iron 
manufactories and building yards. What are called moulders and 
puddlers command high wages. Blacksmiths and boiler-makers, 
saw-cutters, heaters, chain-makers, screw-cutters — in fact, mechanics 
of all kinds are in great demand. Pipe welders and socket welders 
get from 10s. to 12s. a day of Knghsh curi-eucy. I do not know what 
relation these rates bear to the wages now paid in Kngland, or 
whether there is a deficiency or a superfluity of such hands in Birm- 
ingham, Wolverhampton, Sheffield, &c. Should there be a super- 
abundance of such work people in the old country, I am only render- 
ing a service to them and to America in making known that they 
will find full and immediate employment in Boston, New York, 
i'hiladelphia, Taunton, New Haven, Hartford, Providence and fifty 



12 

other places. The contrast between the general social condition of 
tlie artisiin in England and the United States is so great that even if 
the wages at the present moment (the price of food considered) are 
not better here than there, a man gains something by becoming a 
member of a communit}' where tliere is elboW||fooni for intelligence 
and enterprise, and where an excellent education for his children is 
obtainable for nothing. I read the other day in a Lancashire news- 
paper that at the assizes in one of the towns there were fifty-two per- 
sons for trial, and among them only two could read and write well. 
It would be a difficult matter in these States to find five in a hun- 
dred vvho could neither read nor write, excepting among the adult 
Irish emigrants. The portals of learning are open to all, and those 
who have not time to stay and quatf big draughts of the Pierian spring, 
may sip as much as will carry them respectably through life. There 
is no danger here in a little learning — the mischief lies in having 
none at all. It is beautiful to see what good fellowship prevails in all 
the schools. Little barefooted urchins sit in juxtaposition with the 
well-clad children of Senators and merchants, and go ahead just in 
proportion to their native talent and application. The doctrine that 
all men are by nature free and equal finds practical admission here, 
and now that the New England women wlio went toN'orth Carolina 
to teach in the negro schools iiave discovered that there is as much 
aptitude among the darkies for the acquisition of knowledge as was 
ever possessed by the white children, there is no longer any cant about 
the intellectual superiority of races. It was a convenient theory for 
slaveholders, because, among people who knew no better, it was re- 
garded as justifying their treatment of the poor creatures on their 
estates, and Avithholding from them the blessings of education. How- 
ever, all that has "busted up" — thanks to the occupation of Newbern 
l)y the Federal troops. 

Yours faithfully, MUZAFIK. 

Boston, Massacuusetts, f'clobcr 11. 



